The reduction of the working steps and rationalization desired in modern production and manufacturing sequences has led to increased transportation and manipulation problems in connection with heavy process-specific products which are combined to form large units. Of late, in the printing field, printing products have been wound or rolled onto a reel or roll core, which permits very rapid working sequences and permits the intermediate storage of such printing products, without having to modify the sequential arrangement thereof. The number of printing products wound onto such a roll core is fundamentally only limited by the necessary strength of the finished reel. Because the replacement of such reels, or their transportation into the warehouse or store from one process line to another, generally takes place manually, obviously using auxiliary equipment, every effort is made to handle or manipulate reels of maximum size, so as to reduce the number of working steps. Already rolls with diameters of up to approximately 1.5 m and with weights of over 1 or 2 tons each are used. When manipulating such bulky loads, with their considerable weight, serious problems occur in connection with the stability or the handling vehicle and, as a result of the difficulty in handling the large rolls, also during stacking, storage and transportation. In addition, it is desirable for it to be possible to manipulate the loads to achieve a space-saving storage procedure for printing product reels. Where, as a result of the necessary strength of such rolls, their size is limited, the manipulation vehicle must permit a maximum-speed operating sequence and a high manipulating frequency.
Therefore, there is need for handling vehicles which, on the one hand, permit manipulation of the printing product reels in confined space conditions and, on the other, allow rapid replacement of the reels at working stations.
Conventional transverse fork lift trucks and four-way fork lift trucks are not able to correctly transport heavy printing product reels and, in particular, fail to meet the demands made in connection with the handling and replacement of reels. A transverse fork lift with vertically adjustable forks is e.g. known from DE-OS 25 41 190. Each fork lift has a longitudinal component and two other components pivotally connected thereto. However, as a result of its design, the vehicle is wide, so that it cannot be correctly used in the confined storage and working space conditions in printing works. It is also unable to grasp and transport in a stable manner printing product reels which have a considerable weight and special dimensions.
Canadian patent 671 776 also discloses a transverse fork lift which has two lifting posts. However, it is not in a position to handle and transport in the desired manner large printing product reels. Although in this case two lifting posts are provided, it is not possible to replace printing product reels with empty reel cores at the winding stations. In addition, said means also has a construction which is much too wide.